In rural St. Martinville, not far from the peaceful banks of Bayou Teche and Longfellow's Evangeline, is a locked and guarded room straight from "C.S.I."

Only those who know the combination can open the armored door at the St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Department's evidence room, a state-of-the-art facility regarded by some as the best in the state.

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The facility stands in stark contrast to the evidence room for the largest local police force in the state, the New Orleans Police Department, where missing cash and shoddy handling of drugs and guns have raised questions about evidence management.

Ron Theriot is the sheriff of St. Martin Parish, and his evidence room is his pride and joy.

"All the walls have really two walls; you have a metal wall, a cinder-block wall, not only on the exterior wall but even on the inside walls here," Theriot said. "And also we have a double steel ceiling just to make sure if they cut through one, they have to cut through another. And there's alarm systems through all of this."

In fact, everywhere you look, there is a security system of some sort: fire alarms, smoke detectors, microphones, infrared sensors, an air filtration system. And there are hidden cameras, lots of them.

"We have cameras on the outside of the facility, cameras on the inside of the facility," Theriot said. "I don't want to say everything that we have, but there's some systems here ... about three or four different security systems here that safeguard one another, so it is highly under scrutiny and security here."

The monitors show every nook and cranny of the evidence room 24 hours a day, seven days of week. All of it is stored on a hard drive.

"So, at night, if someone did come in here, your 911 operators have these consoles at their desk and they can see?" WDSU I-Team reporter Richie Angelico asked.

"Also the security company has it, so it is a double whammy," Theriot said. "If one fails, we have a back-up system."

All of the security is to protect what is locked inside the high-tech, space-saving evidence bins, stored on entire shelves that can be moved on automated system.

The shelves can hold up to 600 pounds each and are adjustable. Bar codes are also attached to every single piece of evidence that hits the door.

Suspected marijuana and cocaine can also be tested at the evidence room.

With all the security, it would seem like there must be thousands of dollars in cash kept somewhere in those high-tech lockers. But that's not so, the sheriff said.

"We take it to whatever banks that we are dealing with and we put it in an interest-bearing account," Theriot said. "Now, we take photographs of the money, serial numbers of the money. We do whatever is necessary to make sure we get all the evidence off of the money."

At the evidence room in Orleans Parish, thousands of dollars in cash has gone missing because NOPD does not deposit it in the bank.

Police have claimed judges want to see the money at trial. Theriot said he has never had to produce actual cash in a courtroom.

Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said he believes Orleans is the only parish in the state that is still bringing cash from the streets into courtrooms as evidence.

As the newly elected DA, Cannizzaro will decide what evidence is necessary for prosecutions. Actual cash is not needed, he said. And all the money being held in NOPD's evidence room needs to go into an interest-bearing bank account as soon as possible.

"We've had a number of meetings with the superintendent all the way to the directors of the evidence room and property room," Cannizzaro said. "And we have assurances from the police department that the cash that comes into the police ... it's going to be counted, it's going to be copied, photographs are going to be taken of it and then the money is going to be deposited in a bank where it belongs."

Cannizzaro said the police department has promised to have all the money it has on hand in the evidence room deposited in an interest-bearing account within the next 30 days.

For several weeks, WDSU asked permission to video tape a tour of the NOPD's evidence and property room as well as interview the chief or someone he chooses about what changes have been made. Both requests were repeatedly denied.

On Monday morning, however, Police Superintendent Warren Riley changed his mind and allowed WDSU inside with cameras. That exclusive look inside the evidence room will air at 10 p.m. Friday on WDSU-TV.